Video: Atlas 5 GPS 2F-8 Launch Highlights

NASA’s last space shuttle commander — former U.S. Navy fighter pilot Chris Ferguson — will fly Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule on its first piloted test mission to the International Space Station next year.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from California at 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST; 1830 GMT) today to deliver the sharp-eyed WorldView 4 satellite into space to collect best-in-the-industry, 31-centimeter-resolution commercial imagery for retail. Follow the mission in our live journal.

The last flight of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Medium rocket lifted off Aug. 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, riding more than 1.2 million pounds of thrust from a hydrogen-fueled main engine and two strap-on solid rocket motors.